senate republicans block the effort to repeal the medical examiner's don't ask don't tell policy. fair or foul? the florida pastor who planned the koran burning is asked to foot a huge bill for security texas tangle. a bus ride turns into a brawl between two women with infants. good morning. i'm amara sohn. this is "first look" on msnbc. we begin this morning with a no go on don't ask, don't tell. a move by democrats to remove the ban on gays serving openly

in the armed services fell short yesterday. it was blocked by republicans who had some claiming democrats were using the issue to score political points. steve handelsman has more. >> i sat here today on two good legs again as a proud gay marine. >> reporter: democrats rolled out their big guns. eric alva, one of the first warriors hurt in battle. >> it did not matter. >> reporter: he got a medical discharge but since don't ask, don't tell took effect, 13,000 men and women have been kicked out of the military. >> it's long past time to repeal this policy which is both unjust, un-american and extremely hurtful to the effectiveness of our military. >> reporter: but republicans blocked a vote. >> the motion is not agreed to. >> reporter: john mccain opposes repeal. >> the senate goes down this

path, we will be ignoring the views of the troops and casting aside the professional military advice by given by each of the four service chiefs. >> reporter: before president obama awarded a medal of honor, the marine he's chosen to keep in charge said don't let gays serve openly yet. >> we're not quite sure what the impact will be on an all-volunteer force. >> reporter: a bigger blow from susan collins who backs repeal but not to help democrats win more gay votes. >> now is not the time to play politics simply because an election is looming in a few weeks. >> this ain't over. >> reporter: democrats are vowing to fight on. i'm steve handelsman, nbc news, capitol hill. >> and as steve just mentioned, president obama awarded the medal of honor to a military hero more than four decades after he lost his life in

service to his country. richard etchburger's three sons accepted the honor. etchburger died in the line of duty on a top secret mission in laos in 1968 selflessly placing three wounded men in rescue choppers under enemy fire that eventually claimed his life the top economic adviser plans to leave his post. summers is stepping down to return to a teaching job at harvard university. summers had initially agreed to the white house role for just one year. president obama thanked summers for his service during what he called a time of "great peril for the country" now only timothy geithner remains from the president's top economic team today president obama heads to new york to address the u.n. general assembly where

administration officials say he'll walk a fine line regarding iran in a broad-based foreign policy speech. yesterday iranian president mahmoud ahmadinejad warned an attack on his country's nuclear facilities could spark a war that would know no limits while the white house has said president obama plans to leave the door open for talks with iran. ahmadinejad told reporters yesterday u.s. sanctions have damaged the chance for improved relations. here's your look your "first look" at some of the other news going on around america today. newly released video shows a growing problem in san antonio. violence breaking out in city buses. a woman with a newborn is seen taking a swing at another mother. riders screamed for them to stop. the city recently announced a code of conduct for riders.

in minnesota three firefighters were hurt after a fire and subsequent explosion at a local power plant much the blast was strong enough to blow out one side of a corrugated steel building beforehand. tinker bell is the latest to get her own star on hollywood's prestigious walk of fame. in lieu of pixie dust confetti cannons shower her a diamond jewelry set that belonged to princess diana will be auctioned off. the necklace and earrings featured dozens of dimes and cultured pearls valued up to $250,000. now for a look at the national weather we turn to bill. a beautiful stud ded bracelet that elvis wore and it had bling-bling and your name written all over it.

>> i couldn't afford the pearls on that. welcome to our show. glad to here from you up from miami visiting us. it's going to feel like miami. we'll kick into fall and it'll be a warm day. yesterday was high, it was 95 yesterday in atlanta. we were in the mid to upper 90s even close to 100 in many areas including memphis and little rock, all of alabama and mississippi, exceptionally warm. a lot warmer. yesterday was a chilly start in boston. and the only chili air is from billings up to the dakotas. we did have showers and thunderstorms as expected in chicago. this morning they're rolling down near st. louis. we're also going to see scattered showers around buffalo this morning in northern new england. overall though i think the heat is the biggest weather story of the day. kind of like a heat pump.

the winds turn southerly and that's just making all that moisture and all that humidity and all that heat spread through the southeast and up through the mid-atlantic today. it'll be a little shock to the system for some. here's that st. louis radar as i mentioned, just light rain for you right now. heavier storms, it looks like it just developed north of kansas city. the white dots are active lightning strikes. you could be watching a little bit of downpour activity especially the east side of the city this morning. as far as the rain forecast goes, watch out. as far as the forecast goes, heat on the east coast. very unusual end. >> extended summer. bill, thank you. the fed speaks sort of and why freedom of speech is not necessarily the best idea while on holiday. your "first look" at this morni morning's business headlines are straight ahead the twins clinch.

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welcome back to "first look." i'm amara sohn. here's some of the top stories making news this morning. a new book by bob woodward claims there have been bitter battles in the white house over the strategy in afghanistan. the book says in-fighting has consumed obama's national security team with some doubting the plan will work. woodward says president obama has been at odds with military commanders including admiral mike mullen and david petraeus terry jones may have canceled his plans for burn a koran day but he still will get a bill for beefed up security. jones calls this bill ridiculous and says it would bankrupt his church. the gainesville city manager admits he doesn't know how much legal authority the city has to force the church to pay.

the mayor of bell, california and seven other officials have been arrested charged with taking more than $5.5 million from the working class suburb. they're accused of paying themself huge salaries some topping $800,000. the district attorney called it a case of "corruption on steroids" an english novelist whose grandfather sailed on "the titanic" claims her new book reveals the truth behind the ship's sinking. louise patten says her grandfather maintained that a panicky sailor who misunderstood orders steered the ship directly toward the iceberg that eventually sank it. patton claims her grandfather covered up the error because he thought the revelation would bankrupt the "titanic's" owners and put colleagues out of work your "first look" at how wall street will open. the dow opens at 10, 761.

the s&p lost 2 points and the nasdaq fell 6. overseas trading this morning, in tokyo, the nikkei dropped 35 points but in hong kong the hang seng was up 45. markets got a brief boost from the fed's pledge to prop up the economy yesterday. but the central bank stopped short of saying exactly how and when it will step in. after a one-day interest rate meeting, the fed kept rates unchanged near zero. but failed to offer specifics on when it might roll out any fresh stimulus measures promising only additional accommodation to support the recovery. initially stocks and treasuries rallied but the momentum quickly faded. meanwhile the housing sector slid after the government reported a jump in august home construction boosted mostly by the volatile building of mul multifamily homes. oversea, italian authorities seized more than $30 million from a vatican bank account tuesday as part of an

investigation into a possible money laundering scheme by top church officials. the vatican said it was "perplexed and surprised by the investigation." twitter security team has apologized after its website was hacked yesterday causing pornographic web pages to pop up. twitter execs say no account information was compromised keep an eye on adobe systems. shares plunged 15% in late today after a weak sales forecast finally, travelers beware, a couple staying at the golden beach hotel in england was kicked out on the second day of their prepaid three-day stay after the owner accused them of posting a negative comment on trip add adviser. trip adviser says that 59% of that hotel's reviewers give it a do not recommend. with a single declaration at monday's cnbc economic town hall

one woman gave voice to the frustration felt by many who support the president. >> quite frankly, i'm exhausted. i'm exhausted of defending you, defending your administration, defending the mantel of change that i voted for and deeply disappointed with where we are right now. >> last night on "hard ball," chris matthews asked velma whether she thought the president addressed her specific economic concerns. >> he was very candid and honest about the fact that he knows times are har and he was not there to defend how difficult things are or that things were better than what they appear and i appreciated that because i think that's the honest answer. i think the opening for me was is this the new reality? and i don't think he touched -- >> my wife calls that the reset and people who hoped to make a certain income, hope to have a certain life will have to downgrade that because of

economic reality in the world. >> well, one of the questions i've been asked, you appear to be doing pretty good. two kids in private school and you've got a job and your husband has a job. aren't you doing pretty well and the thing i've had to continue to say it's all relative. there are compromises that we make to send our children to private school. you know, i'd like a new car. i'm sure other people would like a new car. we delayed that and it's a deliberate decision and sacrifice for our family because we want to invest in our children for the future and that's just one example. >> don't miss "hard ball" with chris matthews only on msnbc, the place for politics. the twins claimed the central while the yankees and phillies open up some distance, plus an amazing trick shot goes in but is it a hole in one or worth two points? you're watching "first look" on msnbc. er. sure, i can download directions for you now.

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♪ ♪ ♪ people they come together [ male announcer ] at&t and blackberry have teamed up to evolve the smartphone. at&t. rethink possible. look." in sports the yankees were all over the tampa bay devil rays to seize control of the american league east. here's mario solis. it appears the yankees are finally pull ago way in the a.l. east. bombers jumping all over the rays and nick swisher continues to revamp his career in the big apple. number 27 for the swisher king, 1-0 yanks. a few batters later, lance berkman joins the fun.

wall banger to center. yankees score 5 in the first as they go on to win 8-3 and have a 2 1/2-game lead in the east to minnesota, twins clinching with a win over the indians and white sox loss, putting minnesota on top with an rbi single and he completes the throw home, twinkies up 5-4. twins are the first team to advance to the postseason with a 6-4 comeback over the indians phillies' magic number is down to 6 after beating the braves. roy halladay becomes the first phillies pitcher to win 28 games, jayson werth proving what he's worth it with a towering home run and win it 5-1 and now lead the n.l. east by five. the season cannot end soon enough for the mets. they lost their fourth in a row last night. sanchez smashing a three-run home run to give the marlins the lead and adding insult to injury, joe torre said he has no

interest in managing the mets next season. not a good day for the metropolitans. marlins win, 5-2. finally tiger woods is arguably the best golfer, michael jordan, the best basketball player but when you combine the two sports neither can match the talents of john jones, the teenager shows off his skills with what he calls a basketball hole in one. that's a pretty cool shot. video doesn't appear to be altered but you be the judge. i'm mario solis >> that's pretty impressive. now for another quick look at the weather. here's nbc medical examiner bill karins with the weather forecast. do you think he's a really good golfer or a bad basketball player? >> i believe he's really good photoshop editor. >> you think it was altered. >> i just can't believe that would be true. so hard and the guy's arms were already up. we'll find out. let's take a look at what's happening. bring your umbrella in buffalo. looks like syracuse and utica will get hit with rain too along with upstate portions of new

york and up towards burlington, vermont, the rest of the forecast looks dry and warm. that's from d.c. all the way up to boston. temperatures today are going to be about 10 to 15 degrees warmer than yesterday. talking 91 in d.c. today, 88 in philadelphia. the humidity won't be too bad but 86 in new york. as far as the forecast goes tomorrow, more of the same. temperatures are going to be very warm from new york to d.c. you notice some cooler air, though, arrives through albany and boston. for you in boston it's one more day of summer today and then tomorrow gets cooler but for d.c., you're going to have to wait till saturday or sunday to get out of the 90s, high of 94 friday so the nation's capital, one of the hottest summers ever and this is only going to add to it. >> fall isn't really upon us just yet. bill, thank you who got bounced from "dancing with the stars" and who got bounced out of japan? plus, right now he's down about as low as can be but at least one friend is proudly

standing by him. your "first look" at entertainment is straight ahead. you're watches "first look" on msnbc. ♪ you say ♪ flip it over and replay ♪ we'll make everything okay ♪ walk together the right way ♪ do, do, do, do

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welcome back to "first look." i'm amara sohn. last night on "late night with jimmy fallon" he pointed out china is getting used to picking up the tab for president obama. >> frpresident obama's aide hado step in and pay more money after obama gave the fruit vendor a dollar for four apples. china was like, you get used to paying their bill. here's some celebrity news. after failing her most recent drug test lindsay lohan has to appear in court on friday at

8:30 in the morning. or as lindsay calls it, closing time. this is pretty crazy. delaware senate candidate christine o'donnell is taking criticism because she once said she dabbled in witchcraft. yeah, everyone is talking about this. o'donnell was like if one more person claims i am a witch i'll take legal action them and their little dog too. >> tonight he welcomes josh brolin, ben rappaport and jeff musiel. 11:35 central time on your local nbc station. time now for your "first look" at entertainment news. mel gibson has at least one friend left in hollywood. jodie foster is standing by gibson as he endures the worst publicity in his career after a nasty battle with his

ex-girlfriend. she tells "more" magazine that he is the easiest, nicest person i've ever worked with. the second i met him, i said, i will love this man for the rest of my life they may love david hasselhoff in germany but last night the former "baywatch" star was the first to be eliminated from "dancing with the stars" finally paris hilton has been booted out of japan. she was denied entry into the country just days after she pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor drug charge in las vegas. well, yesterday as officials delayed hilton's entrance while looking into her case she was forced to cancel a scheduled tokyo news conference to promote her fashion and fragrance lines. well, sadly i don't feel too bad for her. what about you, bill? >> no, i mean it's a little strange, i mean not many people can say they've been banned from a country. >> between her and lindsay lohan i think american courts will be busy for quite some time. >> yeah, representing our

country well. >> i'm amara sohn and this is "first look" on msnbc. stay tuned. "way too early with willie geist" starts right now. could be an awkward morning in the white house cafeteria as bob woodward's book describes an administration feuding bitterly over what to do in afghanistan. the question is who did joe biden call the most eig tisty c egotistical bastard i've ever met? the question is if the policy isn't repealed, will it ever be? it's starting to feel a lot like october as the playoff field comes to the bronx where the yankees look to increase their slim lead over the rays. the question is was the best team in the league actually the one popping champagne in minnesota last night? it's "way too early" for this.